Chile: Escape shaft to reach miners by Saturday
None
Chile's mining minister says a shaft wide enough to provide an escape for 33 miners should reach the men by Saturday. Laurence Golborne says that once the drill breaks through, it could take anywhere from three to 10 more days to pull the miners to safety.
The countdown can't really begin until they determine whether to insert a steel sleeve in the shaft. That could reduce the risk of something going wrong on the miners' way up, but lowering straight pipe through a curved section also is risky. (AP)
